Westworld as Philosophy: A Commentary on Colonialism

In David Kyle Johnson (ed.), The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy. Palgrave-Macmillan. pp. 453-478 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

Westworld is a television series on HBO (2016–present), based on a movie of the same name by Michael Crichton. The plot of the show is wide-reaching. The first season shows us an adult theme park where android “hosts” serve the wealthy “guests.” Seasons two and three show the attempt of the hosts to escape this servitude, and then, in a twist, help humans do the same outside of the parks. This chapter links all three seasons of Westworld to theories of colonization. First, it explores the types of colonialism as they pertain to Westworld. Then it looks at the various scopes of colonization in Westworld – the colonization of space, time, and psychic space. Next, it explores the psychology of colonizers and the colonized as it pertains to the show. Lastly, it explores possible forms of liberation from colonization that the show has to offer.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,418

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Humans and Hosts in Westworld: What's the Difference?Marcus Arvan - 2018 - In James B. South & Kimberly S. Engels (eds.), Westworld and Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 26-38.
The Frontier Myth of Memory, Dreams, and Trauma in Westworld.Carol Erwin - 2019 - In Alex Goody & Antonia Mackay (eds.), Reading Westworld. Springer Verlag. pp. 119-139.
Sci‐Fi Western or Ancient Greek Tragedy?Caterina Ludovica Baldini - 2018 - In James B. South & Kimberly S. Engels (eds.), Westworld and Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 206–215.
Crossing the Uncanny Valley.Siobhan Lyons - 2018 - In James B. South & Kimberly S. Engels (eds.), Westworld and Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 39–49.
Violent Births.Anthony Petros Spanakos - 2018 - In James B. South & Kimberly S. Engels (eds.), Westworld and Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 229–238.
Epilogue.Alex Goody & Antonia Mackay - 2019 - In Alex Goody & Antonia Mackay (eds.), Reading Westworld. Springer Verlag. pp. 295-303.
The Dueling Productions of Westworld.Michael Forest & Thomas Beckley-Forest - 2018 - In James B. South & Kimberly S. Engels (eds.), Westworld and Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 183–195.
The Wretched of Westworld.Dan Dinello - 2018 - In James B. South & Kimberly S. Engels (eds.), Westworld and Philosophy. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 239–251.

Analytics

Added to PP
2024-05-03

Downloads
4 (#1,812,433)

6 months
4 (#1,166,597)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Matthew Meyer
University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

No references found.

Add more references